


Purple & Blue

by HostisHumaniGeneris



Series: Writing Rainbow Fills [3]
Category: Batgirl (Comics), Supergirl (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 03:49:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20500388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HostisHumaniGeneris/pseuds/HostisHumaniGeneris





	Purple & Blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VampirePaladin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/gifts).

Her breath clouded ahead of her as she knelt on the rooftop, looking down. Wind picked up some loose snow, sending a sheen of white pirouetting through the air.

This was a really bad December. Cold and snowy. Made the usual circuit of Burnside’s rooftops slipper and miserable. She was going to call it quits soon enough, head inside for the rest of the night, out of costume. A few hours ago, before the police announced a driving ban, she had the opportunity to assist at a few car accidents. But now, it was mostly quiet except for lonely plows falling behind the continuing snowfall.

She knew it was going to be a quiet, cold night, but she’d gone out anyways. Things had been so quiet lately, she was going a little stir crazy. And given that a friend from out of town was here, and with the driving ban putting a dint on any chance to sample the Gotham nightlife, Barbara had to come up with something to do.

“Here, you look cold.” Barbara turned her head.

Kara was there, holding two paper ups, steam leaking through the narrow openings in the lids. She offered one to Barbara with a smile. Below Kara, there was nothing except the dozen stories to the streets below.

“Thanks.” She took a sip and was a little surprised when it was hot chocolate instead of coffee. Still was something _warm, _so she couldn’t complain. It wasn’t just warm, it was piping hot. “Where’d you… the entire city’s shut down?”

Kara shrugged. “Found a place that was open.”

“Outside the snow band?”

Kara nodded.

Barbara shrugged. She thought about saying something like Kara shouldn’t have gone to the trouble, but she was gone and back in the time it took Barbara to trudge across the rooftop. “I’ll pay you back, how much did it cost?”

“Free for superheroes.” Kara smiled. 

“Really?” Barbara doubted that. Okay, she hadn’t tried ordering anything in costume before—she figured someone would assume she was cosplaying. She couldn’t imagine anyone in Gotham having policies for free beverages for superheroes—and now she was thinking of Bruce brooding his way through asking for hot chocolate, and she broke into a staccato burst of laughter.

She waved off the inquisitive look Kara gave her and shrugged. “Don’t worry.”

Kara nodded. Ice breath, invulnerability, being able to fly, being able to fly in a snowstorm wearing her normal clothes with no ill effect, all of that and being able to convince people to give you free stuff by just being friendly and helpful?

Being a Super-person seemed to just keep getting better and better to being a Bat-person.

“C’mon.” Barbara said, shaking her shoulders to throw off the snow that had been accumulating on them. She handed Kara her cup and pulled out her line gun. “Just got a few more blocks to do, then we’ll call it quits, okay?”

She landed on the opposite rooftop, skidded on patch of ice, and slid for a few feet before regaining her balance. Kara was already there, offering the cup of hot chocolate. Barbara took a swig and sighed. “Quiet night.”

Kara nodded. A quiet patrol was usually a good thing, but in the freezing cold? Not so much. Barbara was about to suggest they go home and swear to never do this again if it was this cold—barring a certain deranged cryogenics researcher—when Kara narrowed her eyes, tilting her head as if she was listening. 

“Hear something?” Barbara asked as Kara turned and started flying away, slow enough that Barbara could keep pace with her. Jump down to a lower adjacent rooftop, climb a fire escape, she was getting her cardio workout tonight.

Down, far below, she saw them. A trio of men, crowding around _something _small and dark against the snow. From their body language, something definitely wrong was going on. Wearing gang colors too. On the one hand, she was eager to get out of the cold.

On the other, quiet nights were overrated.

She landed on the first thug, sending them both into a snowbank. The surprise entrance left the other two frozen up for a moment, enough time for her to spring up and deck the second—the crowbar he was carrying clattering to the ground as they both fell. The third turned to run… straight into Supergirl.

“What’s going on here?” Barbara asked, glaring daggers at the third gang member—the only one who was conscious. One of the others had a lot of rope, and judging by the animal they had cornered—nothing good was planned..

“You-you ain’t supposed to be here!” The third gang member whined, as if he had a right to complain about fair play.

“Visiting a friend.” Supergirl said. She looked past the gang member. “Who just asked you a question. I don’t suppose that is your dog?”

“I..”

“It’s a coyote.” Barbara said, looking over the animal backing into a corner, eyes wide. There’d been stories of them wandering into Gotham and the surrounding areas. They were perfectly capable of eking out a living in the city. “So, it’s not your pet. Care to tell me what you were doing with it?”

“And remember. It’s not nice to lie.” Kara said, drawing her fist back. 

“I dunno, Mike and the other guys, they just wanted some dogs.” He yelled, unconvincingly. 

Barbara studied the jacket one of the downed gang members was wearing. “Hm… this Mike?”

“Uh… yeah!”

“Mike’s with the Third Street Lions?”

“Yeah!”

“Didn’t a bunch of them get arrested for dogfighting a while back? A lot of their animals got rescued?” She was glaring at him. IF they were trying to restock their inventory… well, she was beyond pissed.

So was Supergirl.

The third gang member said _a lot_.

Enough to make it so that, tired or not, cold or not, Barbara was going to be making a night of this. So was Kara. The thugs were on their way to the police, which left one last loose end before they went further in their investigation.

“What should we do with him?” Kara said, looking at the coyote, who seemd to have calmed down somewhat, but was still warily backed up against the alley. 

“He’s a wild animal. I mean…” Barbara started, before seeing _that look_. “I think… I know of a wildlife rehab place we can send him to make sure he’s safe and warm for the night.”


End file.
